Gray Death Drug Facts: Effects, Hazards & Warnings

Add a dash of carfentanil, which is an animal tranquilizer 100 times more powerful than fentanyl and made to be used on tigers and elephants. But even as law enforcement is focusing on Gray Death, drug dealers are hard at work on even more lethal drug cocktails made from opioids that are smuggled into the country from Mexico or shipped in by mail from China. Because of the addictive nature of the drug, those taking it are likely to experience cravings and withdrawals if they taper use or discontinue use. Once cravings and withdrawals set in, this means the individual would have to consume more amounts to feel the effects of the drug. Going cold turkey for such an addictive substance is guaranteed to cause disruptive and uncomfortable side effects, and possibly an overdose. There are also many options available for opiate users who want to get help.

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1. Sometimes, the overdoses are caused by prescription pain medications illicitly combined with other substances.
2. But it’s often not the case, as he found out in 2014 when he overdosed on fentanyl-laced heroin.
3. Ingredients found in the drug, like carfentanil, can cause death by being exposed to the skin or inhaled.

Carfentanil, which is used as a tranquilizing agent for elephants and other large mammals, is 10,000 times more potent than morphine and 100 times more potent than fentanyl. It is often mixed in with other drugs such as cocaine or crystal meth — and often drug users have no idea their drugs have been tainted. Dubbed “gray death” by authorities, this high-potency cocktail is responsible for multiple overdose deaths across several states including Alabama, Ohio, and Georgia. Investigators who nicknamed the mixture have detected it or recorded overdoses blamed on it in Alabama, Georgia and Ohio. Using illicit opioids, like gray death, is a sign of a serious opioid addiction, because it shows a person’s desperation to find substances that surpass their current tolerance to drugs. Sometimes, the overdoses are caused by prescription pain medications illicitly combined with other substances.

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Most people with addictions buy heroin believing that’s what they’re getting, overdose survivor Richie Webber said. But it’s often not the case, as he found out in 2014 when he overdosed on fentanyl-laced heroin. He’s now sober and runs a treatment organization, Fight for Recovery, in Clyde, Ohio. Some communities also are seeing fentanyl mixed with non-opioids, such as cocaine. In Rhode Island, the state has recommended that individuals with a history of cocaine use receive supplies of the anti-overdose drug naloxone. The drug combination is just the latest in a trend that’s been around for a few years which involves mixing heroin with other opioids, such as fentanyl, to make a more powerful high.

Dangers and treatment

Similar to other opioids, gray death attaches to opioid receptors in the brain. Once those receptors are activated, it prompts the neurons that produce dopamine, the chemical messenger in the brain that controls pleasure, to fire more frequently. Ultimately, the action results in a cascade of sensations, including feelings of intense euphoria. The mixing poses a deadly risk to users and also challenges investigators trying to figure out what they’re dealing with this time around, said Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, a Republican.

Playing a Dangerous Game

That is one reason why numerous law enforcement agencies have warned people not to touch the drug if they ever happen to come across it. The main victims of the rise of gray death are those addicted to opioids. Another reason for the appearance of drugs like gray death is that foreign chemists producing drugs overseas and sending them to the U.S. can quickly change their formulations to evade U.S. drug laws. These evolving substances tend to get more and more potent, and with manufacturers adding these constantly changing drugs to heroin, users can never be sure what they’re getting. However, other people who don’t abuse substances can also inadvertently become victims—police officers and emergency medical technicians (EMTs) put their lives at risk when responding to an overdose call for help.

If you or someone you know is struggling with drug abuse or addiction, seek professional help. If someone you’re with shows any of the above signs, it can indicate a drug overdose. The family doesn’t know how Harley, a 3-year-old border collie Australian shepherd mix, died. But, authorities 6 all-natural sex tips for men said the proprietor of the grooming business was arrested after the dog’s death led to the discovery of a large heroin stash in the establishment. Because ingredients change from sample to sample, each batch of grey death is a mystery — right down to its signature color.

“Every time you shoot up, you’re literally playing Russian roulette with your life.” Some of the pills taken from Prince’s estate after the musician’s overdose death in April 2016 contained U-47700. BetterHelp can connect you to an addiction and mental health counselor. The drug first started appearing in Georgia and Alabama in 2017, and then turned up in Ohio and Pennsylvania before making its way to Louisiana, KLFY-tv reports.

The drug looks like concrete mix and varies in consistency from a hard, chunky material to a fine powder. Gray death is a street name or a slang term that is frequently used to describe a mixture of illegal drugs – mainly synthetic opioids and other synthetic narcotics. Psychoactive components such as heroin, fentanyl, or U (an extremely strong synthetic opioid painkiller) are commonly found in drug cocktails. Occasionally, it is in combination with other substances like cocaine, amphetamines, or other synthetic designer drugs.

Manufacturers are constantly producing new substances to evade laws that struggle to keep up with a changing drug landscape. Unfortunately, heroin users end up unwittingly serving as the testers for these new products and paying with their lives. Synthetic opiates like the gray death don’t require ingestion—these substances can penetrate the skin (if touched or handled) or enter the airways (if unknowingly inhaled).

Potential side effects from gray death resemble the side effects of other opioids. Prescription painkillers (opioid medications) have come to the forefront of this epidemic, with record numbers of people abusing them, overdosing on them, and dying from them. In 2017, a new illicit drug showed up on the streets—the gray death. Illicit use and distribution of heroin with fentanyl spiked around the same time, and while this adulterated substance’s risks are widely known, the gray death drug isn’t as understood.

Exact figures aren’t easy to find, though, which has a lot to do with the fact that there’s no consensus as to gray death’s exact ingredients and their amounts. When testing for ingested substances, gray death isn’t alcohol as a seizure trigger always identified. This lack of identification typically occurs because the opiates are in such minute quantities that they escape detection. Mix in the powerful painkiller fentanyl, which has 50 times more punch.

Some people will need up to 10 doses to recover,6 which can be a huge problem, since family members or first responders may not have this amount on hand. And while this is quite concerning, gray death may not be the worst illicit street substance available. Drug manufacturers are always changing ingredients or creating entirely new illegal drugs in an effort to evade legislation and detection psychedelic drugs by the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). Although law enforcement around the nation has confiscated batches of gray heroin since 2012 (known as “gravel”), this isn’t the same substance being discovered today. In fact, there isn’t much similarity between batches of gray death. In Ohio, a state hard-hit by the opioid epidemic, a record 3,050 people died of drug overdoses last year.

Reports of gray death overdoses first began to surface in Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Pennsylvania and Ohio in 2017. A report from that same year stated that the Ohio attorney general’s office gathered and analyzed samples from around the state that matched the ingredients found in the mixture. Fortunately, the same tools and methods used to reverse a heroin overdose can be used to reverse a gray death overdose, but the process is more challenging. A gray death overdose might require multiple doses of naloxone (Narcan).

The delivery method often depends on how long a person has had an addiction to opioids. For example, someone who is just starting out may ingest the drug orally or inhale it. In the later stages of their disease, injecting it into the veins becomes more common. Illegal drug manufacturers use a process similar to this to make their own synthetic opiates. Sometimes, they also steal or buy them from people who have legal prescriptions for the medications. Since carfentanil is an elephant tranquilizer that is roughly 10,000 times stronger than morphine, it already has the potential to kill a person when used alone.